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Polish Wedding

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Polish Wedding (1998)

January. 16,1998
|
5.5
|
PG-13
| Drama Comedy
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The film centers on a big Polish family. Jadzia is the mother and the ruler of the Pzoniak family (she has five children). Though she's happily married to Bolek, she is also having a long-time affair with Roman. Her young daughter Hala is having an affair with neighbour cop Russell and becomes pregnant by him. Russell is pressed hard to marry Hala.

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Reviews

Cathardincu
1998/01/16

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

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Lawbolisted
1998/01/17

Powerful

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Kaelan Mccaffrey
1998/01/18

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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Zlatica
1998/01/19

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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SnoopyStyle
1998/01/20

Hala (Claire Danes) is a flirtatious Polish high school dropout in Detroit. Jadzia (Lena Olin) is the matriarch of the Pszoniak family. Jadzia has a chaotic life married to the nice baker Bolek (Gabriel Byrne). She's a cleaner with her gypsy daughter-in-law Sofie and has an affair with the boss Roman (Rade Šerbedžija). Neighborhood cop Russell Schuster gets Hala pregnant. Hala is picked to lead the Virgin's procession which she's not.Written and directed by Theresa Connelly, this seems to be a personal film but not a very compelling one. It doesn't have any pace or tension. It's not funny, it's not sexy and it's not dramatic. It's just a bunch of slightly off-kilter characters living their lives. Kristen Bell does have a microscopic role. It's always fun to see a star when they were still a nobody. There are some great actors in this but Adam Trese is not one of them. I think this should be a coming-of-age movie but Lena Olin keeps getting the starring role and blocks Claire Danes.

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Hannalee Hannalee
1998/01/21

It's too bad they had to hang this story on the Polish, and as a student of Slavic languages and literatures, I can see how people would be upset. Somebody must have had the idea that to marry traditional Christianity to pagan celebration of fertility, or show the conflict between those two, you should use the Poles as a vehicle (because they're devout Catholics??). Also, having been a Slavist, I can say that Slavs of all kinds that I've known have often been pretty hard drinkers and smokers... I don't mean that as a slur. Obviously I find Slavs wonderful or I wouldn't be a Slavist.And, this is also not the greatest movie in the world in spite of a good cast, particularly Gabriel Byrne. All the same, I think of it sometimes because of some interesting scenes. To me it's kind of about the constant renewal of sexuality, and its dangers. Or that it will be renewed over and over again despite any dangers, no matter what young people want or where they think they're going. Usually if I notice symbolism, I suspect it's heavy handed, but since no one has mentioned it, I'd just remark that the scene when the young buck rides away with Hala on his bike, and they go to an abandoned metro station, just drips with the contrast between primal sexuality (literally regrowing up out of the concrete in dense greens), and the broken establishment framework (the literally broken concrete). Hala is pregnant and wearing a wedding dress and he still can't resist her. These guys are Adam and Eve before there were any rules.So, there are a few scenes like that. One of my other favorites is the sweet scene of reconciliation, Mom and Dad smoking in the pantry closet. Forget the bogus virginity ritual. I was raised Catholic and I don't remember anything like that. This film has some unique features I haven't seen elsewhere, and thus, I still like to see parts of it from time to time.

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joylfoster
1998/01/22

I really couldn't find anything that made this movie seem like it was supposed to be set in late 70's or early 80's as the "goofs" part suggested. The cars in the neighborhood are all probably older vehics from the 80's because it's a working class Detroit neighborhood...not the upper middle class suburbs we're used to viewing in movies. There were no songs, or major fashion diplays that would lead one to think it's from the late 70's. I have never though of the movie as being from anything other than the mid 90's, the same timne it was released. Where I live the police cars are all new (the last few years). Does anyone know why someone thought it was from an earlier decade?

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vvsing
1998/01/23

This movie is highly entertaining with unpredictable, character-driven, plot twists that pull you in like the smell of comfort food cooking in the kitchen. The story itself is a grand view into the mundane working world of fighting, resentments, loyalty and ultimate forgiveness, of a large Polish family all living together in the same house.Mother and daughter are powerful and attractive and the men alternately ignore them, wait for them, and chase after them. The matriarch of the family is romantically unfulfilled but finds meaning and purpose in the context of her family and children. The daughter is growing into adulthood and recognizing her feminine power in the context of a budding relationship but, like her mother before her, ultimately trapped. The members of this emotional but practical Polish immigrant family don't live life, life lives them. The characters and performances make this movie well worth watching.

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